


Need a Shoulder to Cry On

by ItsCutterKirby



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brooke Lohst Deserves Better, Chloe is a Toxic Friend, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Nail Painting, No Romance, i need more fics of these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26346568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsCutterKirby/pseuds/ItsCutterKirby
Summary: Michael leaves the dumb party, fed up with his 'best friend.' What he didn't expect was someone else having aterrificnight.Brooke gets a ride home and a possible new friend.
Relationships: Brooke Lohst & Michael Mell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Need a Shoulder to Cry On

**Author's Note:**

> i need more brooke&michael content
> 
> NO SHIPPING. michael is VERY GAY. only friendship here

It had been nearly two hours, so Michael finally left the bathtub.

It was hard at first, with all Michael wanted to do being to disappear into the tub and have himself fade from existence.

It’s hard not to feel like that when your best friend calls you a loser.  
It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. Michael was used to people calling him a loser. He had accepted and even started to embrace it. But…

Jeremy…

The look on his face. Unfiltered malice seething through his teeth. Michael tried not to let more tears slip down his face. He’d just stopped crying.

_C’mon, Michael. Keep moving._  
He opened the door. No one noticed as he slipped unseen through the party, which was mostly just drunk teens blacking out by now. He heard something about Mountain Dew Red (something he’d been wanting to get his hands on, it was rare!), but right now he just wanted to leave. So he did.

He was out the door and almost to his hidden car when he heard it.

A sob.

From the bushes.

_Great. More people are having a terrible night._  
Michael supposed he could indulge in more crying. He slipped to the side of the house. What he didn’t expect was the blonde kneeled in between the bushes.

Brooke was sobbing into her ‘sexy’ dog costume. Her makeup was probably ruined, her hands clasping her knees as her shoulders shook.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She jumped. Looking up with her (yep, makeup’s running) eyes, she stared at him with confusion. “Headphones Guy?”  
A nickname he had learned was very common among the popular kid group.  
“Yeah. Michael. Headphones Guy. Are you okay?”  
She looked down. “No.”  
He sighed. “Figured. Wanna talk about it?”  
She looked him in the eyes. “Hey, your eyes are red. (How she could see in the dark was beyond Michael) Have you been crying, too?”  
He sat next to her. “Yep.”  
“Oh.” She fiddled with her skirt. “Jeremy cheated on me.”  
“Jeremy friend-dumped me.”  
“Oh, yeah, you always sat with him, didn’t you? I’m sorry, I never really paid attention.”  
“Don’t feel bad. No one did.”

They sat there for a while.

Brooke’s eyes suddenly widened. “I don’t have a ride! Chloe...Chloe was my ride but she totally made out with Jeremy! Jenna saw! I can’t-Michael, is there anyone I can trust anymore?!”

She started crying again.

Michael patted her shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. But...maybe we could not trust together?”

She looked up at him.  
“Want me to drive you home?”  
She sniffed. “You’d do that? I...yeah, that works. Just, can we get some Pinkberry first? I just…really need some comfort food right now.”  
“Throw in 7/11 and we got a deal.” He held out his hand.

She grasped it. “Deal.”

~

Brooke held out her froyo cup. “To being dumped by Jeremy!”

Michael completed the gesture with his blueberry slushie. “Here here!”

Brooke took a bite. She hadn’t known Michael for very long (officially, anyway), but shared sadness could really connect you with a person. They had shared some things in the car to get to know each other (officially). She learned Michael had known Jeremy for twelve years, his favorite color was beet red, and he wanted to work in computers one day. She shared that she had two dogs, listened to classic rock (Michael admitted he was surprised she didn’t like trashy pop), and her favorite flavor of froyo was strawberry shortcake.

She really enjoyed his company. He was easy to talk to, and she didn’t feel like she had to impress him like she did with Chloe. Chloe was… hard to talk to. She always had to be right. The more she talked to Michael, the more she wondered why they were so close.

Michael took her home.

It was one in the morning. Brooke just wanted to sleep.

Her mom wouldn’t be home. Work. She patted her dogs’ sleeping heads as she walked through the small apartment. Pulling off her sexy dog costume, she slipped under her sheet. She looked at Michael’s number on her phone.

As her eyes closed, she realized she just made a friend.

~

She ignored Chloe’s calls. Then Jenna’s. Something about Rich. She didn’t care. She didn’t buy the ‘smiley face lipstick kitty paw’ thing Chloe tried.

She avoided Chloe in the halls. Everyone was talking about some sort of fire. Brooke was glad she left the party when she did. 

She guessed she couldn’t sit with her friends at lunch today. She didn’t want to. They’d just keep talking about that fire, anyway.

She sat next to Michael. He didn’t notice at first, clearly absorbed in his headphones.

_He doesn’t expect anyone to sit next to him._

She tapped his shoulder.

He jumped.  
He looked relieved when he saw it was Brooke.  
He slid down his headphones. “Brooke! You...you need something?”  
She smiled slightly. “No, silly. I just...wanted to sit next to you.”  
He looked confused. “You aren’t going to sit with your…” He saw Chloe glaring daggers. “Huh. Guess not.”  
“Yeah. I ignored her texts and calls. She’s real mad at me.”  
“Why’s she mad at you? She’s the one who made out with your ex.”  
Brooke sighed. “That’s...that’s how she works. I dunno…”  
Michael’s expression was understanding. “Hey. It’s no problem. Let’s eat.”

They did.

They talked, mostly avoiding serious topics. She told him about her dogs, how she loved cheesy romcoms, and her collection of sweaters.  
He talked, too. Said he lived in his basement, mained Sonic in Smash (For the memes, apparently) and was allergic to pepper.  
They promised to hang out that night.

~

That night, they didn’t avoid the serious topics.  
Michael invited her to his house (there was no way Brooke was taking him to her dinky apartment). He introduced her to his moms, then took her down to his basement.

It was really nice. 

A safe space away from everything, he said. He was right. There was room to move, he had a bed and a bathroom all to himself, and there was a big TV with bean bag chairs in the center. “For me and Jeremy,” he admitted. “Don’t think he’ll be here anytime soon, though, so you can take his seat.”

She happily obliged.

“So...I guess it’s time I told you what happened.”  
She cocked an eyebrow. She had been curious how Jeremy had friend-dumped him.  
She placed her hands under her chin. “Tell me everything.”  
“Everything?” He laughed. “How much are you willing to believe?” He leaned back in the bean bag chair.  
“Anything.”  
“All right then.” He took a breath. “Well, it really started when he signed up for the play. Apparently Rich told him about some drugs that could make him cool, and he wanted to try it to get with Christine.”

“Christine? That little theater kid? She’s super nice. Always helps me with my lines.”  
“Yeah, her. Anyway, Jeremy picks up the drug, a ‘squip,’ and takes it while I’m watching. Nothing happens and I pick up some Crystal Pepsi. When I get back, Jeremy ain’t there. The next day he acts like I’m not even there. That’s when I realize it worked, but then he says something like ‘optic nerve blocking on’ and he keeps ignoring me.”  
Brooke stared at Michael with pity. _Magic drugs?_ That’s a new one. But she bought it. Michael isn’t the type to lie about this. She thinks.

“Next time he looks at me is Halloween. I tell him that this squip thing is really bad, that it could land him in a mental hospital. And he…” He pauses.  
She realizes there are tears in the corner of his eyes.

“He calls me a loser.”

He was hugging his knees.  
She scooted her chair closer to his and embraced him. He needed it. He began to sob as he hugged her sweater.

It went like that for about ten minutes.

He wiped his eyes. “Ok. I’m done now.”  
She let go. “Thanks for trusting me, Michael.”  
He sniffed. “Thanks for not calling me a loser. So, how about you? What’s your ‘Jeremy sucks’ story?”

She laughed. “Not much next to yours. Jenna said he was making out with Chloe. Jenna isn’t...too reliable but Chloe said it was his fault in her texts, so… I don’t know.”  
Michael held her shoulder. “Hey. I don’t know Jeremy as well as I thought I did, but he’s not one to make out with random girls. He’s…It’s just not like him.”

“Neither is calling you a loser.”

They looked down.  
Michael sighed. “I dunno, but what I do know is that we gotta get that drug out of him.”  
“How?”  
“I’ll figure that out. Right now, let’s just do friend stuff.”  
Brooke opened her bag. “I have just the thing.”

~

Nail painting, apparently.

Brooke said it helped her with stress, which Michael guessed was true. The few times he’d looked at her directly in the halls, he’d never seen her without some sort of pattern on her nails. Spirals, stars, you name it.

Michael hadn’t been reluctant, saying gender norms are for pansies. He held out his hand, expecting some sort of embarrassing pattern, but Brooke was tender. She traced the brush over his nails, doing them in a beet red pattern with music notes in the center.

He held them out while they dried. “Hey, you’re really good at this.”  
She smiled. “Thanks! Chloe said they were too intricate, but I really love nail painting. You have to be gentle and precise, know exactly what you want to do. I love it.”

Michael blew on his nails. “Why do you put up with her?”  
She frowned. “She’s my closest friend. I think. I…” She hesitated. “I dunno. I know she’s not perfect, but...she’s been there for me when no one else was.”

_Her parents were fighting. Thirteen year old Brooke stood holding her head in her hands. Her mom slammed her hands on the table. They were doing it. They were getting a divorce. It was all Brooke’s fault. She knew it was. She should have been better. Chloe held her head in her lap. She stroked Brooke’s hair. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “Don’t worry, I got you.”_

Brooke didn’t want to remember that.

She started on her own nails. “I guess we’ve been friends for so long that it just doesn’t matter anymore.”

Michael ‘hmmed.’ “Well hey. I’m your friend now. You talk to me about your problems.”  
Brooke looked at him with wide eyes. “Really?! It’s-um-it’s a lot...really, I don’t know where to, uh…”  
Michael clasped her shoulder with his red-nailed fingers. “Brooke. It’s clear you need a friend right now. So how about we un-drug Jeremy and do friend stuff together. You and me. Okay?”

Brooke could barely believe it. She had a new friend. A _nice_ new friend. Who wouldn’t gossip about her or make her feel insecure or…  
She looked at her patterned nails. White base with yellow and green zig-zags.

First they’d fix Jeremy.

Then they’d...be friends.

_Real friends._

Brooke grinned wider than she had in a while.

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> that's that  
> chloe is toxic sorry pinkberry shippers  
> while writing this i realized that i love brooke lohst  
> thank you and goodnight


End file.
